Cruises - Received a Costa Concordia offer in the mail from Amex!

Obviously this mailing must have been in the works prior to the sinking, but it was still rather amusing to receive a Costa promotion from Amex in the mail today!
It offers a $500.00 on board credit for cruises on the Concordia between Feb. 25th and October 29th (to be fair, the other two Costa boats are included in the offer).
Has a nice picture of the vessel parked outside of Venice

leaning tower of pisa boats.....so famous....we all walk with one leg shorter than the other.....

Sale only applies to starboard balcony cabins though.

And the onboard swimming pools have just been hugely expanded throughout the ship. And can be used at no additional charge.

Also got this mailer.

Also got this mailer.

+1 - but no mention of the cost of scuba gear to reach your cabin...

i disagree, i think this was sent out (immediately) after the accident, as a proactive response to it

i disagree, i think this was sent out (immediately) after the accident, as a proactive response to it

Really? You think they did this to intentionally embarrass themselves?

These campaigns are set up months before they are mailed out. They might have been able to catch them before they hit the post office, but it would have cost them beaucoup bucks to do so, and they would have lost the rest of the campaign.

Is this the one that tells you to "Immerse Yourself"? :D

I bet someone got fired.

Is this the one that tells you to "Immerse Yourself"? :D

I bet someone got fired.

Really?

When you know this was written weeks (if not months) before the accident?

Doesn't matter when it was written or when it was printed, it matters when it was mailed. If you got it this soon after the disaster, and it was sent bulk mail, chances are it dropped before.

It's stupid for them to send it out if they could have stopped, it just makes them look stupid offering discounts on a ship that won't sail again under the Costa flag for a long time, if ever. They would have been able to save the postage costs, even though they would have lost the production costs (which they did anyways, as it was a wasted offer)

Their official answer is (to the Washington Post)

a representative explained that it takes between six and eight weeks from when a brochure is put into creative to when it reaches mailboxes, making it too late to pull the mailing. “Obviously that offer is not valid,” she said.

Which of course doesn't answer when it was actually dropped at the post offices.

Amazing that people think a bulk mailing arriving in their mailbox 10 days after an event (4 days of which were weekends) could have been stopped. Even more so that people are actually arguing this LOL.

I wouldnt think they would scrap her. 1/2 of it is totally intact and the 1/2 could prbably be saved. summer is coming and they should be able to get her up and to dry dock for eval

I wouldnt think they would scrap her. 1/2 of it is totally intact and the 1/2 could prbably be saved. summer is coming and they should be able to get her up and to dry dock for eval

I think it was said earlier this week that it could be until towards the end of this year before they can get the ship out of there. I would guess salvageability depends not only on how much damage the ship has, but how much more it sustains being in that position for many more months. Not only from moving around on the rocks, but more with the salt water eating away from a good chunk of the inside.

My first thought was they'll patch the hole we see, start pumping, attach lines around the ship and start pulling it back upright, get it floating again, tow it up to the shipyard that built it (in Italy) and fix her up. I'm less and less sure as this goes on that this thing will be fixed.

I would call them up and see if you can get another Cruise with Costa or their partners and book a good deal. It seems like the Costa incident was isolated.

Just like after 9/11 I booked flights. My point is if you feel like a cruise now is the time to book it when people don't want to take it,